At the invitation of the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association, Vice President Song Jingwu visited Tokyo and Hokkaido Prefecture from February 20 to 24, 2019. During the visit, he met with Mori Yoshiro, former Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Suzuki Daichi, Commissioner of Japan Sports Agency, Takahashi Harumi, Governor of Hokkaido Prefecture, Furuoya Mitsuo , Secretary General of the National Governors' Association of Japan, Akimoto Katsuhiro, Mayor of Sapporo, Kikuya Hideyoshi, President of Hokkaido Association of City Mayors and Mayor of Date, and Irie Kan, Vice President of the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association, exchanging views on how to further strengthen the friendly exchanges between the two countries in the fields of local governments, mass sports and youth.
Song Jingwu introduced the events and achievements of friendly exchanges conducted by the CPAFFC in the fields of local governments and youth in the past year. He said that last year marked 40th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Japanese Peace and Friendship Treaty. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with President Xi Jinping for several times, and exchanged visits with Premier Li Keqiang, which had been long since their last round of exchanges. The relations between the two countries have returned to a normal track. The two countries designate this year as a "China-Japan Youth Exchange Promotion Year" and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and 2022 Winer Olympics in Beijing respectively, which will bring new opportunities for the cultural exchanges of youth and sports between the two countries. The CPAFFC hopes to work with various sectors of Japan in an innovative way, to carry out more extensive and practical exchanges among grassroots, especially young people, on the theme of the Olympics.
Mori Yoshiro, former Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, said that Japan and China are both sports powers and many of their exchanges in sports went down in history of the development of bilateral relations and even international relations. He hopes that the two countries will seize the opportunity to jointly promote the development of the Olympic Movement in East Asia and strengthen mutual understanding and friendship among the peoples. Suzuki Daichi, Commissioner of Japan Sports Agency, said that he is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the Chinese side in sports talent training and mass sports in the future.
Takahashi Harumi, Governor of Hokkaido Prefecture, said that both Japanese prime minister and Chinese premier attended and addressed the opening ceremony of the 3rd China-Japan Governors’ Forum in Sapporo, Hokkaido. The forum was a great success. The Japanese local governments will make more efforts to vigorously carry out cooperation in the fields of mass sports and youth exchanges in the future.
